Far Cry 5 has taken the world by storm. TV commercials, street advertising, hundreds of videos, benchmarks, tweaks, guides… Beyond some not-so-positive professional reviews, players received this fifth installment with open arms. One of its most interesting aspects is undoubtedly the graphical development, but that's not unusual within the franchise, and one fan in particular decided to compare Far Cry 5 to what Far Cry 2 offered a decade ago.
Far Cry 2 hit the market in October 2008. With versions available for the three main platforms of that era (Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3), the game managed to sell almost three million copies in three months. Its 50 square kilometers of play area, the level of realism (with weapon deterioration, vehicle repair, and the use of physical maps), and the virtues of the Dunia graphics engine (a variant of CryEngine developed by Ubisoft) placed Far Cry 2 at a completely different level. Ten years later, Far Cry 5, which uses an updated edition of Dunia, even surpassed the most optimistic forecasts by selling five million copies in just seven days. However, there are notable changes between both versions that go beyond age...
Perhaps the most striking point is the foliage destruction system. In Far Cry 5 it has serious limitations (trees are immune to weapons), while in Far Cry 2 it was possible to annihilate the entire environment one bullet at a time. This difference is amplified with the use of explosives. A grenade or a stick of dynamite barely leaves a burnt tree and floating leaves in Far Cry 5, but in Far Cry 2 the result is much more chaotic, with formidable reactions to blast waves. The same can be said about physics. Running over a bush with a vehicle in Far Cry 5 makes it 'explode'. In Far Cry 2 it ripples as seen in real life. Vehicle explosions, their destruction models, and certain AI reactions also suggest more elaborate development in Far Cry 2.
Now, why is it important to highlight this? Let's say Ubisoft has a very bad reputation when it comes to implementing 'downgrades' in the graphics of its games. It would be very interesting to hear from Far Cry 5's developers to better understand the changes. Perhaps it's a matter of 'ports', or perhaps it was inevitable to make certain cuts in an attempt to maintain performance at a fixed level (Ubisoft's DRM doesn't help much there). The video is strong proof that you can't fool fans, but everything seems to indicate that Ubisoft doesn't care much...
